Book and magazine holder



July 3, 1962 e. L. CLAYTON 3,041,776

BOOK AND MAGAZINE HOLDER Filed May 5, 1961 2 sheets-sheet 1 /5 INVENTOR.

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July 3, 1962 B. L. CLAYTON 3,041,776

BOOK AND MAGAZINE HOLDER Filed May 5, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lNg/ENTOR.,31eme United States Patent Otice 3,041,776 Patented July 3, 19623,041,776 1390K AND MAGAZENE HOLDER Brace L. Clayton, 1501 Bellevue St.,Greensboro, N.C. Fiied May 5, 1961, Ser. No. 107,979 3 Claims. (Cl.4S-85) This invention relates to improvements in book and magazineholders that are adapted to retain a book or magazine in any inclinedposition that is lconvenient for a reader whether they `are reading orcopying from the book or magazine being so retained by the book andmagazine holder.

An object of this invention, therefore, is to provide an improved bookand magazine holder that is susceptible of being adjusted so that thebook and magazine holder may retain books and magazines of varyingsizes, as well as susceptible of being adjusted so that the angularinclination of the book or magazine may be adjusted to conform with theangle of vision of the reader.

Another object of this invention is to provide a book and magazineholder that will retain the book or magazine in open position so thatthe readers hands may be lfree at all times to either copy from the bookand magazine or perform other feats while reading or studying from thebook or magazine.

A further object of this invention is to provide a book and magazineholder that may be used by a reader when in a sitting position or whenlying down.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a book andmagazine holder that is simple in construction, eicient in operation andinexpensive to manufacture.

With the above and other objects land advantages in view, the inventionconsists of the minor details of construction, arrangement andcombination of parts more fully hereinafter described, claimed andillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a book and magazine holderembodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view on the medial line 2-2 of FlG. 4;

FIG. 3 is a rear elevational view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional View; and

FIG. 5 is a rear elevational view of the upper support or page retainingmember of the book and magazine holder embodying the invention.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, wherein like parts aredesignated by like reference numerals, the reference numeral 16 is usedto 'generally designate `a book and magazine holder embodying theinvention.

The book and magazine holder comprises `an upright body plate member orbase 11 which has a straight bottom edge 12, straight side edge portions13 and 14 l and upwardly and converging inclined top edge portions 15and 16 that terminate in an apex portion 17. Extending at right langlesto and forwardly of the body plate member 11 and integral therewith is alower book support member or flange 18. The lower support member 18 hasrounded corner portions 19 and 2t), as clearly shown in FIG. 4, andextending longitudinally of and adhesively secured to the rear surfaceof the lower support member 1S and bottom edge 12 is a narrow elongatedscutf member 21 that prevents the bottom edge portion 12 of the book andmagazine holder 1t) from marring or scratching any surface upon which itis placed.

Punohed from and extending rearwardly of the plate member 11 are -a pairof horizont-ally aligned apertured ears 22 and 23. The ears 22 and 23are positioned on opposite sides of the vertical medial line of theplate member 11 and are equally spaced therefrom. Also punched from andextending rearwardly of the plate member 11 is a third apertured ear 24to which is secured one end of a chain member 25.

Vertically alined openings are positioned on the vertical `medial lineof the body plate member 11 to receive a short upper bolt member 26 anda slightly longer lower bolt member 27 which extend into upper and lowerelongated slots 2S and Z9 that `are provided in `a channelshaped supportmember 30. The support member 30, at its upper end, is secured to anintermediate plate member 31 of an upper support or page holder 32 andthe intermediate plate member 31 has a right angularly disposedlongitudinally extending integral flange 33 that is in contact with,when at rest, the longitudinally extending medial line of asubstantially inverted U-shaped top plate member 34 of the upper pageholder 32. Member 34 includes a web extending across the top of theintermediate plate member 31. The support member 30 is secured to theintermediate plate member 31 by rivets 35 and the iiange 33 of theintermediate plate member 31 has sliding contact with the top platemember 34.

The web of the top plate member 34 has a vertically dependinglongitudinally extending integral rear flange 36 and a verticallydepending longitudinally extending integral front flange 37 that iswider transversely thereof than the rear flange 36.

The front flange 37, the intermediate plate member 31 and the rearflange 36 are provided with transversely alined, longitudinally spacedopenings in which are positioned transversely extending pin members 38and 39. Each of the pin members 3S and 39 is provided at its oppositeends -with enlarged heads 40 tand 41 to prevent disengagement of thepins 38 and 39 `from the front flange 37, the intermediate plate member31 and the rear ange 36. Positioned on each of the pins 38 and 39intermediate of the front flange 37 and the intermediate plate member 1is a limiting or stop member 42 and positioned on each of the pins 38and 39 intermediate of the rear llange 36 and the intermediate platemember 31 is a spring 43. The intermediate plate member 31 is thusstationary to permit forward and rearward movement of the front and rearflanges 36 and 37 against the tension of springs 43, the stop members 42limiting or stopping the movement of the front flange with respect tothe intermediate plate member. This arrangement permits the top pageholder 32 to adjust itself automatically by tilting .in a plane normalto the intermediate plate member v31. Thus, when the reader has reachedthe middle of the book as shown in FIG. 4, the front flange 37 will beparallel to the intermediate plate. However, at the beginning of thebook it will be tilted toward the earlier pages to accommodate theunbalanced arrangement of pages. Toward the end of the book the holderwill be tilted in the opposite direction, of course. This adjustmentoccurs automatically to some slight effect as each page is turned.

With the support member 30 positioned on bolts 26 and 27 by reason ofthe elongated slots 28 and 29, a resilient washer 44 is positioned onthe lower bolt member 27 and then an elongated stop adjusting platemember 45 is positioned on the bolt members 26 and 27 by reason ofspaced openings that are provided therein. along the longitudinal medialline, adjacent the opposite ends thereof. A Wing nut 46 is then threadedon each of the bolts 26 and 27 so that when the wing nuts 46 areloosened the support member 30 may be vertically adjusted in relation tothe plate member 1.1, lbut when the wing nuts 46 are tightened, thesupport member 30 will be retained in fixed adjusted relation to theplate member 11.

A support or rear rest assembly 47 is provided for retaining the bookand magazine holder 10 in vertical or inclined relation to a horizontalsurface, as shown in FIG. 2. The support assembly `47 includes a pair ofside bars 48 and 49 that have the upper ends thereof bent at rightangles thereto, as at 50 and 51, whereby the assembly 47 may bepivotally connected to the apertured ears 22 and 23 that extendrearwardly of the body plate member 11. A rubber foot member 52 beingmounted on the opposite end of each of the side bars 48 and 49, and thefoot members 52 in conjunction with the scuff member 21 will prevent thebook and magazine holder 10 from sliding on any surface on which thebook and magazine holder is placed. Extending between and secured at itsopposite ends to the side bars 47 and 48 is a cross bar 53, which isprovided at its medial portion with an eye 54` A hook member 55 ispivotally connected to the eye 54, and the hook member 55 may beselectively inserted into the links of the chainZS to retain the supportassembly 47 in adjusted relation to the plate member 11.

The lower support member 18 is provided with a pair of openings 56 and57 that are equally spaced from the medial portion of the lower supportmember 18 and eyepins 58 and 59 are adapted to be removably insertedinto the openings 56 and 57. A rubber band 60 is connected to andextends between the eye-pins 53 and 59 so that the rubber band 60 mayengage and conform to the outline of the pages 61 of an open book 62, asshown in FLIG. 4.

When the book and magazine holder 10 is to be used it is positioned on asuitable sur-face, as shown in FIG. 2, 'and the support assembly 47 ismoved in relation to the body plate member 11 until the body platemember 11 is positioned in the proper inclined relation to a surface, asshown in FIG. 2, at which time the hook 55 is inserted in the nearestlink of the chain to retain the body plate member 11 in the desiredposition.

The bottom edges of the open book 62 are then placed on the lowersupport member 18 and the upper support member 32 is moved upward-ly ordownwardly as the situ ation requires so that the top edges of the openbook 62 are positioned intermediate of the front ange 37 andintermediate plate member 31. The wing nuts 46 are then tightened toretain the upper support member 32 in the ilxed adjusted position thatis determined by the size of the book 62. The eye-pins 58 and 59 arethen inserted into the openings 56 and S7 so that the rubber band 60extends over the lower central portions of the pages 61 of the open book62, as shown in FIG. 4.

Tihe book 62 will, therefore, be positioned and retained at theinclination best suited to the reader 4and the pages 61-of the book 62may be turned as needed.

There has thus been described a book and magazine holder that isversatile in use and may be made of metal, plastic or any other suitablematerial and it is believed that from the Iforegoing description themanner of assembling the book and magazine holder, 'as well as the usethereof, will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

It is also to be understood that changes in the minor details ofconstruction, arrangement and combination of parts may be resorted toprovided they fall within the spirit of the invention and the scope ofthe appended claims.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a holder for books or the like, including an upright base, abottom flange extending forwardly of said base and adapted to receive abook or the like thereon, an intermediate plate, means slidablyconnecting said intermediate plate to said base for vertical adjustingmovement relative thereto, and adjustable support means for varying theangle of inclination of said base and intermediate plate; theimprovement comprising an inverted U-shaped page holder comprising a webformed with front and rear depending anges, said web extending acrosssaid intermediate plate above the same, said front and rear angesstraddling said intermediate plate forwardly and rearwardly thereof, apair of lateraly spaced pins connecting said front and rear lflangestogether, said intermediate plate being formed with a pair of laterallyspaced holes slidably receiving said pins therein to connect said pageholder to said intermediate plate for forward and rearward movementrelative thereto, and expansive spring means interposed between saidintermediate plate and said rear flange to load said page holder to arearmost position.

2. A holder for books or the like according to claim 1, there being alower page holder comprising rigid page engaging means on said'bottomflange in forwardly spaced relation to said base, ya resilient band,said `rigid means having means mounting said band in upwardly spacedrelation to said bottom 'ange, and said rigid means comprising twolaterally spaced elements, said elements being spaced apart `a distanceless than the width of an open book seated on said bottom flange wherebyto provide laterally spaced and rigid page engaging means withsaid bandproviding resilient page engaging means between said rigid page engagingmeans.

3. A holder for books or the like according to claim l, there -beingstop means interposed between said -front ange and said intermediateplate to limit rearward movement of said page holder and tol maintainsaid front ange in at least a minimum spaced relation to saidintermediate plate.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSGramacy May 20,

